African influence helps Farah lead middle-distance revival

The last time a Somali athlete made a big noise on the world athletics stage it was to signal the end of Britain's golden era in the middle-distances. With that in mind, there is a delicious irony in the prospect that, almost two decades on and with British athletics fast becoming the laughing-stock, another 'Somali' is on the threshold of sparking a British middle-distance revival.

Mo Farah was born in Mogadishu, came to Britain at the age of nine without a word of English, but now speaks with an accent that is very south London. In keeping with his new identity his running inspiration is also one of Britain's finest, Paula Radcliffe, though another name frequently crops up when he mixes with those who share the family ties. "If you ask anyone of Somali background they talk about Abdi Bile," Farah says. "I would like to meet him one day."

At Rome in 1987 it was Bile who took advantage of an off-colour Steve Cram to deprive the Briton of a second straight world 1500 m title. It was also the last time a British man went into a major championship over a distance longer than 800 metres as the favourite.

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"I realised I had to get out of where I was comfortable," he says. "There were always distractions to training - family, friends, something always came up. I realised I had to concentrate 100 per cent on my running and couldn't afford any of the late nights."

Farah now lives in an athletes' 'commune' in Teddington, south-west London, where the residents include the world 5000 m champion Benjamin Limo.

It's a house operated as a European base by his agent Ricky Simms; mostly for Kenyans who use the house as a place to return after outings on the roads, country and tracks during the year-round European circuit. For periods, particularly during the winter, the Kenyans go home to the Rift Valley. But when they're 'working' Teddington is their home-from-home, an all-consuming existence.

For Farah it has been the opportunity to taste this at close quarters. From the maize meal that is stirred up in the pot every night - "I eat it with them sometimes. It's good with lots of carbohydrates," Farah says - to the small talk around the kitchen table, the 23-year-old has learnt how to eat, sleep, drink, breathe and, perhaps most importantly, think the way of a top African runner.

Another significant contributor in Farah's emergence has been the Australian Craig Mottram, the world championship bronze medallist, another neighbour and who spent long periods training with him during the winter. "He's different class," Farah says. "I've learned a lot from Craig. He's the only one of the top guys who's not an African."

The new regime amounts to a life shift that, two weeks ago, culminated in the most remarkable run by a British 5,000 m runner for a quarter of a century; Farah chasing home one of his housemates, Micah Kogo, at a meeting in Belgium to become the second fastest Briton ever at the distance.

Farah's 13 min 9.40 sec at Heusden has lifted him above all of the great British names of the Seventies like Brendan Foster, Dave Bedford and Ian Stewart. Indeed, just David Moorcroft's world record run in Oslo more than 24 years ago remains quicker.

Farah's timing couldn't be better, for while the likes of the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele have taken the 5000 metres world record within sight of 12-and-a-half minutes, in Europe standards are still back where they were in Moorcroft's day. And when Farah lines up for the qualifying heats in Gothenburg on Thursday he will do so as the second fastest man in the field.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the only man quicker is another with a strong African association. Alistair Cragg may run in the emerald green of Ireland and spend much of his year at college in the United States, but he was born, educated and ran twice for his native South Africa in the world cross-country championships before assuming the nationality of his grandparents.

Even so, Farah will go into next weekend's final buoyed by the experience of having finished well ahead of Cragg over 1500 metres at Crystal Palace nine days ago. And with the Briton expecting the Gothenburg race to be "fast in the last few laps" it is a pace more likely to suit him than the Irishman.